Goodine not guilty on all counts

Lawrence Goodine, the former Chattanooga police officer accused of stealing during traffic stops, walked out of the Hamilton County Courthouse a cleared man Saturday evening.

After four days of testimony and 10 hours of deliberation, a jury returned not guilty verdicts on every charge brought against the 27-year-old.

He faced eight counts of theft and official oppression based on accusations he skimmed money from accused drug dealers during traffic stops. He was also charged with a single count of perjury, accused of making false statements about one of the stops while under oath. A charge of extortion was dismissed Friday by Criminal Court Judge Don Poole.

Mr. Goodine would not talk to reporters Saturday. Instead his father, Dr. Lawrence Goodine Sr., said by phone that the verdict was a relief.

“We’re just happy that this ordeal is over with,” Dr. Goodine said. “We knew that the truth would always come to light. We thank our attorneys, Lee Davis and Bryan Hoss, and the jury, who both saw this case for what it was and took the time to see that justice was granted.”

Tears streamed down the cheeks of some jurors as Mr. Goodine cried while the verdict was read. His wife, father and stepmother all huddled and cried a row behind him.

Afterward, Mr. Goodine tightly embraced his father inside the courtroom for several moments before the family, with arms around each other’s waists, hurried from the courtroom and to their vehicles in a nearby garage.

Mr. Goodine’s attorney, Lee Davis, said throughout the trial that the case was poorly investigated, and he likened the alleged victims to “sharks” who were bent on lying before the jury to convict a hard-working policeman.

Both Dr. Goodine and Mr. Davis said the officer was a rookie with a year and half of experience. His errors, they said, weren’t criminal, but rather procedural gaffes that deserved guidance from superior officers, not criminal charges.

Prosecutors alleged Mr. Goodine targeted young black males in rental cars, whom he suspected of selling drugs. When the officer arrested the men, prosecutors allege he would pocket a portion of their cash and deposit the rest in the police property room.

The conduct, prosecutors alleged, was unnoticed because Mr. Goodine turned the money into the property room rather than completing a cash seizure form that provides receipts to suspects. The department later changed its rules to require the receipts, but it was only encouraged during Mr. Goodine’s tenure, witnesses testified.

“They tried to say my son was a dirty cop,” Dr. Goodine said of investigators and the prosecution. “He’s just a young cop who’s honest and worked hard. He did make some errors, but he’s a rookie, that’s to be expected. It was never anything dishonest.”

Jurors asked to review tapes of several of Mr. Goodine’s traffic stops during deliberations. At different points, cheers and applause could be heard from the deliberating room.

Defense attorneys Mr. Davis and Mr. Hoss said afterward that the witnesses, who all admitted to either using or selling drugs, weren’t believable.

“When you get right down to it, it became a credibility test,” Mr. Davis said. “The state’s witnesses just lacked credibility.”

Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston admitted those witnesses’ criminal histories were too much for jurors to move past.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult case because of the past records of the victims,” Mr. Pinkston said. “That proved to be too much to overcome.

“We thought we had a clear theory and the investigation was objective and thorough. It’s unfortunate,” he said.